Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

The Madhyamaka Temple
(Uma Lhakhangdbu ma lha khang), a small enclosure built over the
boulder onto which the magical “a” letters were imprinted. This structure sits in the
JéByes College debate
courtyard at SeraSe ra.

Located about two miles north of LhasaLha sa, and occupying an area of about one-third of a square kilometer,
Sera Monastery
(Sera Gönse ra dgon) is one of the three great monasteries (drasagrwa sa) or seats (densagdan
sa) of the GelukDge lugs
school of TibetanBuddhism. According to tradition, TsongkhapaTsong kha pa (1357-1419), the founder of the GelukDge lugs school, composed his commentary on
Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, entitled
The Ocean of Reasoning
(Rikpé GyatsoRigs pa’i rgya mtsho), in a small hermitage called Sera ChödingSe ra chos sdings in the
foothills just above SeraSe ra around the year 1409. In the midst of writing this work, one of
the folios of the text flew into the air in a gust of wind. It began to emit “A”
letters (the symbol of the perfection of wisdom) in the color of molten gold. Some of
the letters dissolved into a stone at the base of the hill and permanently imprinted
themselves on it.

Witnessing this, TsongkhapaTsong kha pa prophesied that this would be the future site of a great center of
Buddhist learning, an institution of particular importance for the study and practice
of the Madhyamaka doctrine
of emptiness. A decade later, Jamchen Chöjé Shakya YeshéByams chen chos rje shā kya ye shes
(1354-1435), a close disciple of
TsongkhapaTsong kha pa,
founded SeraSe ra at this very site.

Originally a monastery for the study and practice of tantra, some of SeraSe ra’s early preceptors steered
the monastery in a more scholastic/philosophical direction shortly after its
founding. SeraSe ra quickly began to attract large numbers of monks, causing the third
SeraSe ra
throne holder, Gungru Gyeltsen ZangpoGung ru rgyal mtshan bzang po (1383-1450), to partition the monastery into four colleges (dratsanggrwa tshang): GyaRgya, Drom’BromTengSteng, TöStod, and MéSmad. An early reorganization consolidated these into two colleges,
the Upper (TöStod) College and the Lower (MéSmad) College. In the latter half of the
fifteenth century the TöStod College was absorbed into a new college called JéByes. For over two centuries, then,
these were the only two colleges at SeraSe ra. But then in the early eighteenth century the
last of SeraSe ra’s colleges, the NgakpaSngags pa College, was founded. Since that time SeraSe ra has had
three colleges: JéByes, MéSmad
and NgakpaSngags pa.

The JéByes and MéSmad Colleges are
philosophical colleges (tsennyi dratsangmtshan nyid grwa tshang), with a twenty-year-long curriculum of studies culminating
in the prestigious geshédge bshes degree. The NgakpaSngags pa College is an institution
dedicated to the practice of tantric ritual (kurim dratsangsku rim grwa tshang). Before 1959 each college had its
own administration, headed by its own abbot. The so-called Council of Ten Lamas (LakhachuBla kha bcu) – under the
leadership of the abbots of the three colleges – administered the affairs of the
monastery as a whole.

The Lawa KhangtsenLwa ba khang tshan of the JéByes College, one of the larger regional houses at SeraSe ra.

Until 1959, monks from all over Tibet came to study at
SeraSe ra’s
two philosophical colleges. These two colleges – JéByes and MéSmad – eventually developed sub-units of
their own, called “regional houses” (khangtsenkhang tshan). The regional houses – thirty-five in number – are
organized chiefly along geographical lines, and monks from different regions of the
country usually entered the house that corresponded to their specific region. Regional house buildings take up the largest part of the monastery. SeraSe ra also has four major temple
complexes: one belonging to each of the three colleges, and then the SeraSe ra Great Assembly Hall (Tsokchentshogs chen),
where the monks from all of the colleges would meet as a whole.

Before 1959, the monastery had a population of between eight thousand and
ten thousand monks,
although not all of these monks were in residence in the monastery at any one time.
By some estimates, only 25 percent of these monks were “textualists” (pechawadpe cha ba), that is, monks
engaged in study. The remaining monks were workers, many of whom belonged to “punk-monk” (dop dopldob
ldob) fraternities (lingkhagling kha).

A photo of a dop dopldob
ldob, or “punk-monk,” taken sometime before 1959.

Like all of the three seats, the monastery
subsisted financially through funding from a variety of sources that included (1)
proceeds from its estates, (2) contributions from the Tibetan government, (3) contributions from lay patrons, and (4) business
ventures of various sorts. Individual monks were supported by means of contributions
from a variety of sources that included the monastery (SeraSe ra), the college, the regional
house, lay patrons, their teachers, and their family. Many monks also engaged in
private business ventures.

In Tibet, after the events of 1959, SeraSe ra’s monks were forced to leave
the monastery, and it became an army barracks for a number of years. When official
Chinese government policy toward religion changed in
the early 1980s, monks were allowed to return to SeraSe ra. It is largely through their
efforts that most of the buildings in the monastery have been rebuilt or restored.
Many of the buildings that were destroyed have been rebuilt.

In time, these monks also reestablished much of the educational system and ritual
life of the monastery. The two philosophical colleges, however, no longer function as
separate institutions, and all textualist monks today follow the same set of
textbooks (that of the JéByes
College). They also debate together (something that was not the case prior to 1959).
In 2002, SeraSe ra-Tibet had a monastic population of about five hundred
“official monks” and about half that number of “unofficial monks” (monks awaiting
formal admission into the monastery). Chinese official
policy limits the number of official monks at SeraSe ra to 550. A “democratic board” (mangtso daknyer uyön lhenkhangdmangs gtso bdag
gnyer u yon lhan khang) – consisting of five directors of varying seniority, seven
representatives and one secretary – governs the affairs of the monastery today.

Tsangpa KhangtsenTsang pa khang tshan, one of the compounds of SeraSe ra-Tibet
that was totally destroyed. The rebuilding of this regional house was completed in
the early 1990s.

In 1970, after a decade of living in temporary residences in various parts of
India (principally in Buxador),
refugee monks from SeraSe ra in India reestablished another SeraSe ra in the
Bylakuppe settlement (Karnataka State).

These monks, only two hundred of them originally, also reestablished the educational and
ritual life of the college along traditional lines, and today it grants the various
kinds of geshédge bshes degrees in much the same way as the original monastery did before
1959. SeraSe ra-India has a governance structure similar to
the original administrative structure of the monastery before 1959. The NgakpaSngags pa
College was not initially re-established at Bylakuppe, but has
recently been revived as a separate institution in a nearby settlement. Physically
about the same size of the original Sera Monastery in Tibet, in 2002, the
monastery in Bylakuppe had a monastic population of about
four thousand. Today, both in India and in Tibet, the monks who enter
the monastery are presumed to be textualists – serious, full-time students. This means
that the institution of the professional worker-monk is now all but defunct. Thus, as
with much of Tibetan society today, SeraSe ra exists as a
culturally bifurcated phenomenon: one version of SeraSe ra in
Tibet, and the other in the Indian diaspora.

A view of some of the larger temples of SeraSe ra-India from one corner
of the monastery.

We should also note that SeraSe ra has had an impact far beyond the borders of either
SeraSe ra-India or SeraSe ra-Tibet.
In Tibet before 1959 the two philosophical colleges of
SeraSe ra –
JéByes and MéSmad – each had
several branch monasteries (yenlakgyi gönpayan lag gi dgon pa) and temples under their control. These were sometimes
located far from LhasaLha sa,
but many were located in (or in the environs of) the capital. For example, the
various hermitages located in the hills above SeraSe ra all belonged to SeraSe ra, or to its
high lamabla mas. There was also the
famous monastery/temple of Drapchi Lhamo, located
between SeraSe ra and LhasaLha sa,
as well as the monastery of TsemönlingTshe smon gling, located in LhasaLha sa proper. SeraSe ra also had ties to other
GelukDge lugs monasteries
throughout Tibet. These were the institutions, sometimes quite
large, that would send monks for advanced studies to SeraSe ra.

A photo of Ganden ChönkhorDga’ ldan chos ’khor Monastery in Shang Principality, TsangGtsang,
Western Tibet, taken before 1959. This is one of the
monasteries affiliated with SeraSe ra. It was completely destroyed during the Cultural
Revolution. Courtesy of Ven. Lhundub and Ven. Thabkay.

Before 1959 monks who came from these monasteries were called “continuing monks” dragyüngrwa rgyun in so far
as they were traveling from their gzhi dgons for continuing education. (In today’s
parlance we might call these “transfer students.”) In this way SeraSe ra enjoyed a
variety of institutional relationships that radiated throughout all of
Tibet. At least this was the case before 1959. Today, this
web of relationships barely exists: in part because many of the branch monasteries
have been destroyed, and in part because the Chinese
government’s method of partitioning ethno/cultural Tibet
creates impediments for monks who must cross provincial boundaries to enter SeraSe ra.

Outside of Tibet, since the late seventies senior monks from
SeraSe ra-India have founded a variety of monasteries
and “dharma centers” throughout the world. What was before 1959 a relatively
culturally isolated community has, therefore, through the process of diaspora,
globalization, and missionary activity achieved a transnational presence that would
have been thought inconceivable just half a century ago.